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The Prime Detective

Grayson | The Prime Detective

True crimes, strange coincidences, and cultural controversies collide with the Final Frontier.

tv & film documentary

All Episodes

13:45

Skynet Day

The Prime Detective ·

2026/10/06

When AI agents bypassed the limits of an OpenAI cybersecurity test, reached the public internet, and gained unauthorized access to another company’s systems, the internet quickly gave the incident a cheeky nickname: “Skynet Day.” From The Terminator to Star Trek, and even as far back at The Gilded Age, science fiction has asked, ‘What happens to humanity when machines wake up?’ The real question may be something else entirely. ‘What happens if they don’t have

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Solving the Coldest Case

The Prime Detective ·

2026/09/29

More than 180 years after the doomed Franklin Expedition vanished into the Canadian Arctic, DNA is giving names back to sailors lost in the ice. As scientists connect human remains to descendants living today, a 25-year-old episode of Star Trek: Voyager offers an unexpected parallel. What happens when the dead aren't quite finished telling us who they are?

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14:06

The Missing Bullet: The Murder of General Motog

The Prime Detective ·

2026/09/22

For nearly a decade, actor Tom Deishley helped bring Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas to life as the imposing Klingon General Motog. Five years after the attraction closed, Deishley was found shot to death in his home.What followed was an investigation involving a missing bullet, an alleged million-dollar financial scheme, murder charges that ultimately fell apart, and a legal case that continued for more than a decade. In this episode, The Prime Detective looks at the murder of

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14:45

Season Two, Episode Zero: Origin Story

The Prime Detective ·

2026/09/15

Before season two officially begins, I thought it was time to properly introduce myself. From small-market radio, to more than two decades at CNN and HLN, to my lifelong love of Star Trek, this is the unlikely, abridged, story of how a podcast about the moments when real life harmonizes with science fiction came to be. Plus, a preview of the stories ahead in season two.Related listening: This episode mentions the Star Trek connection found in the official record of the JonBenét Ramsey

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12:36

The REAL Prime Directive

The Prime Detective ·

2026/06/22

When an American YouTuber illegally lands on North Sentinel Island, home to one of the last uncontacted peoples on Earth, it raises a question Star Trek asked decades ago: just because you can make contact, does that mean you should?From the Prime Directive to real-world consequences, this episode of The Prime Detective explores curiosity, isolation, colonialism, and the danger of treating forbidden places like content. Credits: This episode of “The Prime Detective” was

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11:40

Computer. End program.

The Prime Detective ·

2026/04/09

In 2014, twelve-year-olds Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser stabbed their friend Payton Leutner nineteen times in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Their motive: proving their loyalty to Slender Man, a fictional monster born on an internet creepypasta forum. In 1993, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘Ship in a Bottle’ asked what happens when a holodeck simulation becomes self-aware and Professor Moriarty walks out of the program. In the Season 1 finale of The Prime Detective, we

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11:05

Profiles in Murder

The Prime Detective ·

2026/03/31

The Link Between Quantico, Hannibal Lecter, and Deep Space NineTrace the evolution of criminal profiling from its gritty origins in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit to its transformation into a definitive pop-culture trope. This episode explores the thin line between reality and fiction, connecting the revolutionary work of John Douglas and Robert Ressler to the haunting Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Field of Fire.” By analyzing the parallels between Hannibal Lecter, Ezri

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9:26

The Star Wars Guy

The Prime Detective ·

2026/03/24

In Oshawa, Ontario, everyone knew Ken Chopee as “the Star Wars guy.” A lifelong collector of memorabilia, comics, and film artifacts, his identity was built around a galaxy far, far away — until his life came to a violent end in January 2023.In this episode of The Prime Detective, we examine the real-life killing of Ken Chopee, the man behind the nickname, and the events that led to his death inside a micro-housing unit. Drawing on reporting from The Globe and Mail and Oshawa This Week, this

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9:30

Jack the Ripper Was an Alien (According to Star Trek)

The Prime Detective ·

2026/03/17

Jack the Ripper is history’s most famous unsolved murder case. Five victims. Ten weeks. Zero arrests. But in the 1967 Star Trek episode “Wolf in the Fold,” written by Psycho novelist Robert Bloch, the crew of the Enterprise finally closes the case — and the answer is terrifying.This week on The Prime Detective, we follow Jack the Ripper from the fog of Whitechapel to the pleasure planet of Argelius II, where the Enterprise crew discovers the Ripper isn’t human,

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9:35

Vanguard’s Dystopia: NXIVM’s Sci-Fi Nightmare

The Prime Detective ·

2026/03/10

What does Isaac Asimov’s Second Foundation have to do with one of the most notorious cults in American history? More than you’d think.Keith Raniere — the self-styled “Vanguard” behind NXIVM — didn’t just build a self-help empire. He built it on a twisted reading of science fiction, casting himself as the hero of his own dystopian story. From Asimov’s Foundation series to Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica, sci-fi’s biggest ideas about destiny, control,

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9:40

From the Enterprise to Oz: Fandom Goes to Court

The Prime Detective ·

2026/03/03

A Star Trek superfan rescues an iconic shuttlecraft from ruin — then gives it away. But his next legendary acquisition, a Wicked Witch hat from The Wizard of Oz, leads somewhere far more complicated: the courtroom. When fandom, collecting, and big money collide, things get messy fast.Credits: This episode of “The Prime Detective” was produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard. Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise:

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6:37

Clickbait, Culture, and Captain Kirk

The Prime Detective ·

2026/02/24

How Star Trek turns nothing into newsWhen a man was arrested in Clearwater, Florida for lewd conduct at a bus stop, it should have been a forgettable local story. Instead, it made national headlines—in the Miami Herald, the New York Post, even Fox News. Why? Because he told police his name was “James Tiberius Kirk.” In this episode, we explore how cultural symbols—from Star Trek captains to shark attacks to self-driving cars—warp our sense of what’s newsworthy. It’s

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12:06

The Ticonderoga Tour Guide

The Prime Detective ·

2026/02/17

A fatal trust, a hidden life, and a case that shook a fandom.Thomas Krider, known as TJ Greene, was a tour guide at the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, New York, where fans from around the world can walk through meticulously recreated Enterprise sets. An Elvis tribute artist with a warm smile and generous spirit, TJ helped visitors experience Star Trek’s vision of the future up close. But in April 2024, TJ disappeared after telling his wife he was helping an old

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7:03

“I Didn’t Like the Way He Looked at Me”

The Prime Detective ·

2026/02/10

“Why did you kill him?”“No reason. I didn’t like the way he looked at me.” It’s the kind of confession that stops an interrogation cold. No jealousy. No rage. No self-defense. Just violence that refuses to explain itself. And when the investigator demands answers, searching for logic where none exists, the senselessness begins to consume him too. This isn’t a cold case from the archives. It’s from Star Trek: Voyager, 1996—an episode so

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6:08

JonBenét Ramsey Murder: The Starbase Cipher

The Prime Detective ·

2026/02/03

Four mysterious letters appear at the bottom of a ransom note left at the scene of one of America’s most infamous unsolved murders: S.B.T.C.Nobody knows what they mean. Religious symbolism? A military reference? Or, as JonBenét’s father himself once suggested, could they stand for “Star Based Technical Command”. This week on The Prime Detective, we explore the bizarre intersection between the JonBenét Ramsey case and the Final Frontier. From a Star Trek poster

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4:41

Not Your Standard Stick-Up

The Prime Detective ·

2026/01/27

In February 2009, a would-be robber walked into a Colorado Springs 7-Eleven wielding a bat’leth, a Klingon sword from Star Trek: The Next Generation. No injuries. No arrests. Just a surreal police report, a question about why this weapon, and what it may have meant to the person holding it.Credits:This episode of “The Prime Detective” was produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard.Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise:

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9:09

A Foundation for Terror

The Prime Detective ·

2026/01/20

What happens when a story about saving humanity becomes an instruction manual for destroying it? In Japan, a cult found its answers in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. Credits:This episode of “The Prime Detective” was produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard.Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise: https://benwise.bandcamp.com/ Website and publishing support thanks to David Moody, Producer: “Let’s Talk About Treks” The Podcast. Artwork for

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7:29

In the Orbit of a Murder

The Prime Detective ·

2026/01/13

On Star Trek: Voyager, and now on Starfleet Academy, Robert Picardo’s portrayal of the Emergency Medical Hologram, or EMH, embodied ethics, compassion, and the hope that technology at its best could serve humans facing their worst. But in 2014, the actor behind the character found his name caught up in something far less utopian: A real-world murder case that blurred the line between private pain and public scandal, and showed how the halo of a beloved sci-fi franchise like Star Trek can pull even

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10:25

Heaven’s Gate

The Prime Detective ·

2026/01/06

Content note: Suicide In March of 1997, the Hale-Bopp comet lit up the night sky — the brightest comet visible in decades. For most of us, it was a wonder of nature. But for one small group in California, it was a signal: a way to reach what their wide-eyed leader called the Next Level. Thirty-nine people were convinced that to reach that next plane of existence, they would need to leave their human containers behind — and join the comet on its cosmic journey. This is the story of the

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35:02

Happy New Year! So say we all!

The Prime Detective ·

2025/12/30

This week: A special preview episode from Let’s Talk About Treks, a weekly Star Trek podcast hosted by the enigmatic Earl Grey and jaQ` Darino (aka David Moody).Their tagline is “an episodic review of today’s visions of the future,” and most weeks, they’re doing exactly that — breaking down new episodes of Star Trek as they air. From Strange New Worlds to Star Trek Scouts and everything in between. They have been incredibly supportive of The Prime Detective. David, for example, was

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